Day 8 : Kununurra to El Questro

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Relatively long lie in this morning until 6:45am; it seems the Asians next door at the campsite (who we think are fruit pickers) were having a long lie in for a Saturday. Whilst Grant filing up with diesel, I went and had a look at the “Celebrity Tree Park” in town which was opposite the campground. The sign explained that the township of Kununurra ask visiting “celebrities” to plant a tree to honour their visit & symbolising their faith in the future of the town. It was kind of weird but 10 out of 10 for originality. Other than a planting by Baz Luhrman on behalf of the cast of “Australia” and a tree planted by Kate Cebrano (an Aussie Idol winner from a few years ago), all the other plinths beside the trees were of Aussie authors & athletes I had never heard of before.

Worked out our food requirements for the next week whilst having breakfast; then onto a big stock up at Coles in Kununurra given we would not see any major civilisation along the Gibb River Road until next Saturday when we reached Derby. Decided we would hang around until 12noon when Liquorland opened so we could get some beers & a nice bottle of red wine and popped into a gallery in town - the Lovell Gallery - to kill some time. Some fabulous art work from a local artist, the centrepiece of the gallery being a huge painting (prob 12-15m long & 2m or so high) of the Bungle Bungles at Piccaninny Creek. We were tempted to buy a print of the big picture but at $500 unframed for the large print of it, it was bit on the pricey side so instead we bought a small boab tree limited edition print for 1/10th of the price of the other one, which was more within budget.

Once back at the truck, we could see across the road to Cellarbrations (off license) and were amazed to see heaps of indigenous locals hanging around outside waiting to get in and then saw at least 3 taxis (a couple of which seemed to be Toyota HiLux twin cabs) pull up outside bang on 12 noon, delivering more locals to get their grog. I had not realised, until Grant pointed it out, that indeed we were also in this “grog queue” !! We shot back to Liquorland to pick up the essentials : 6 beers and a nice bottle of red wine from WA (Voyager Estate Margaret River Shiraz) . Whilst on this trip I declared on night one that I was only going to drink wine from WA, and other than a glass of white bought on the first night (Forester Sem Sav Blanc from Margaret River) and the bubbles on the Lake Argyle cruise yesterday (which didn’t really count as wine), that has been it to date - at least for wine !

Left town and headed out for the Gibb River Road and then onto El Questro Wilderness Park. The start of the GRR had some good photo ops & bizarre signs (“watch out for stray cattle for the next 670 kms”; “road train route - max 53.5m long”). Once onto the road it was fairly wide with even gravel, some small patches of tar seal in a couple of spots but more significantly some major road improvements being made through to Emma Gorge - looked like they would maybe tar seal all the way through to El Questro. Some big expanses of scenery en route - big open station country. We arrived at the turn off to El Questro after perhaps only 45 mins or so on the GRR, and 20 kms or so later arrived at the Station Township which is the main part of El Questro (the others being Emma Gorge and the Homestead : where the super rich & celebs go to stay). Checked into our riverside bungalow (no. I for “Insect”¬) which was to be home for 2 nights ! Bliss. No 4WD camper. A bed. Air conditioning. An ensuite bathroom. Nice shampoo & body wash (have been using eco friendly concentrated camping shampoo & conditioner all in one which, whilst small & easy to travel with, I don’t think has been doing my hair too much good).

El Questro is a privately run “wilderness park” of a million acres on a pastoral lease. The part north of the Gibb River road is still run as a cattle station, whilst the part around the Chamberlain & Pentecost Rivers is run as a tourist wilderness park. A lot of the activities you can self-guide round (various 4WD tracks across the property, gorge walks, boat hire, fishing gear hire etc) or alternatively you can pay to take guided tours, chopper flights etc.

We decided to set off on a 4WD track for “Explosion Gorge” which was a 38km round trip. The road started off well - fairly wide with plenty of room for 2 vehicles - until we reached a steep drop down to a river crossing which was in a saltwater crocodile area (whole area is both freshies & salties area). We expected it to be similar to the fairly short crossings we had been through on the Bungle Bungles road but after the first crossing, we followed more river bed, to come to a second crossing which was maybe 80 - 100m long with some big rocks in it. The water didn’t seem to be too deep - possibly 30cm or so - but the length of it surprised us and we got quite a big bump at one point when we think we went over quite a large rock. Even then it wasn’t over and there was a third short stretch of water before we got properly out the other side. It would clearly be quite wide when full of water in the wet season. We headed onwards only to find the road closed through to Explosion Gorge and thus instead we headed up to Branko’s Lookout over the Chamberlain Gorge & Cockburn Ranges. Going up it was very steep with a sharp turn at one point on the track, with Grant having to engage low range 4WD to get us up. The view from the top was brilliant though and we had picked the right time of day to be there - at 4:30pm - just as the sun was starting to fade & the light beautiful. Coming back the other way was similarly eventful and I took some video clips of us going back down the hill & through the river crossing again. My inane commentary was trying to “calm” Grant down but all I seemed to keep saying to him was “Good job Grant” and “Well done” and then giggling nervously. We were both relieved that we didn’t meet another 4WD in the river crossing (not sure what we would have done to get round each other) !

Evening entertainment at the Station Township consisted of a gourmet BBQ dinner which was stupendous with fresh barramundi fillets, steak, fresh salads, chicken kebabs & lamb steaks. Throw in a few glasses of merlot (Smithbrook Merlot, WA) and some beers & a port for Grant and we were sorted. A chap with several guitars & a banjo provided some music - he was very good (could have put most of the contestants on “Australia’s Got Talent” to shame) - with a wide variety of songs : everything from Johnny Cash to Mumford & Sons to his own songs. He also seemed to have a day job at El Questro also and knew all the staff, who also came to the “Swinging Arm Bar”, to socialise & have a few. Midway through the set, one of the old stockman on the property, did a demo of cattle whipping & roping. The willing volunteer from the audience - a 20 year old staff member - was the “heifer” and had to walk along whilst he lassoed her leg; then had to hold out pieces of alight paper whilst he whipped off the ends of them. The accuracy was very impressive. Then a rendition of a poem the old boy had written - which was very well delivered & quite a clever ditty about people getting old & things not staying the same. Guitar man then came back to finish off & had all the crowd going in the second half, with some of the young staff doing mad dancing & getting very merry. Us too, who had got through about 3 rounds and Grant was now onto the port. Yes, all in all a very good night - this trip is exceeding all expectations on a daily basis at the moment. Long live the Kimberley.

Distance travelled : 130 kms ( 2 hours, 40 mins)

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Photos

Lily Creek Lagoon, Kununurra
The edge of the celebrity tree park (watch out for the fresh water crocs)

Start of Gibb River Road
Kununurra end (East Kimberley) - we heard the scenery was better travelling along the GRR east to west. Due in Derby next Sat (15th May)

GRR - start
It's info overload on the signage...

GRR - start
Yes, and watch out for wildlife too will you

Comments

[paul]

Rewards
Well done on the 4 wheel driving Grant. Good to see you finished off the evening's celebrations with a well earned port. Can't wait to see the full set of photo's!